Be ruthless, Virat exhorts players
MUMBAI:India captain Virat Kohli has asked his players to maintain the same mindset and ruthless attitude as during the 2013 Champions Trophy as they look to defend their title in England.
“I think the first challenge is not to think about the fact that we are defending the title. When we went there the last time, we just wanted to enjoy ourselves as a young unit. We ended up winning the tournament and ended up creating a team which has done so well so far. From that team as well, there have been a few changes. Right now, our mind set is very similar, to go out there
and enjoy our cricket which we have done in the past few years,” said Virat Kohli, on the eve of the team’s departure to United Kingdom.
Kohli said the same attitude had helped his team attain the top Test ranking, with a strong desire to win. “In Test cricket, we have been able to reach the top with that mind set, having the hunger to win.
“We have taken it across all formats. Ruthlessness is something we definitely speak about all the time. We go in with that mind set and that goes a long way in a tournament like this,” the India captains said.
Virat Kohli said the team would be looking to maintain the same template of their successful campaign where the key was the opening partnership and the bowling of R Aswhin and Ravindra Jadeja.
“From the last Champions Trophy, the revelation for us was the opening partnership of Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan. The pair was great to see for fans and the team. It definitely played a part in the team going on to win. Ashwin and Jadeja were on top of their game. Even the fast bowlers bowled well.
Even as a fielding side we were the best last time around. These three things we identified then and we would like to focus on these three things in England this time around as well. I felt these three were out strongest facts last time around in the CT,” said Kohli.
India begin their tournament against Pakistan on June 4 at Edgbaston, then play Sri Lanka on June 8 and South Africa on June 11.